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Early Years Special Educational Needs and Disability Inclusion Panel (SENDIP)

Children and their needs evolve and change especially in their early years so it might not always be possibly to determine how complex any Special Educational Needs might be, and therefore the level of Special Educational provision and support required. The Early Years Special Educational Needs and Disability Inclusion Panel (SENDIP) is a non-statutory route which supports children in their early years by arranging and implementing a package of support for a child. A range of professionals can make applications to SENDIP including Early Years Settings, Health Visitors, Children Centre Practitioners and other Health professionals.

SENDIP is a panel made up of representatives from Early Years SEND Inclusion Team, Statutory SEND Team, Children’s Centres, Disabled Children’s Team, Early Years specialist provider, and Health professionals. The primary purpose of SENDIP is to support the inclusion of young children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities, or those who are particularly vulnerable, into and within early years settings and through their transition into school. Funding is allocated to early years settings to specifically support children at the SEN Support Stage of the Code of Practice 2014.

The panel considers requests for two year-olds, three year-olds and four year-olds based on a set of guidelines. Children meeting the thresholds will have, or are likely to have, complex and long term needs which will require highly specialist educational provision in the future. This means educational provision which is additional to, or different from, that which normally takes place within the setting. The panel will make a decision on the level of Inclusion Support Funding (ISF) as part of a package of support for children meeting the thresholds.

Inclusion Support Funding is a process which allocates funding to an early years provider, primarily to enable children aged two years and over with SEND to achieve better outcomes. It allows an early years provider to increase their staffing ratios within the environment in order to increase the capacity of the child’s Key Person or, in some cases and where appropriate, to purchase other services. The maximum amount of hours that will be funded is 15 hours per week (term time only) over a total period of 38 weeks. This is in line with a child’s free early education entitlement (EYE).

A child must live in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) to be eligible for funding. Please note the Local Authority is not obliged to fund a child under two years-old. Please also see the B&NES Local Offer for information on how we can provide support and advice for families of children aged 0-5 years. If the child does not live in B&NES please contact the Local Authority in which they live for further information on their funding procedures. If you have any queries or would like additional information please contact SENDIT@bathnes.gov.uk.

SENDIP and Inclusion Support Funding Forms

The below documents must be completed by a relevant professional. To make a request for Inclusion Support Funding please use the documents below.